


Pure-White Wings

by DayLightDove



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Adopted from another writer on FanFiction.net, Angst, Drama, Gen, Lots of Hurt and comfort, Lots of OCs - Freeform, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 06:44:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 19,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6363616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DayLightDove/pseuds/DayLightDove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Adopted from AlexaTheWingedCat) With Jack joining the Guardians, they are now a big happy family. However, Jack has a secret and when the Guardians catch sight of it, it only leads to more discoveries about the spirit's other job. How will they take learning about this when the pieces all come together? What if a new danger forces everything to come to light?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is an adopted work, so the first three chapters are mainly the original unil the end or so of the second chapter and everything after is from where I started. I don't own ROTG.

Jack was flying over Burgess since he finished spreading snow over Canada and England. He landed silently over the lake where he was reborn and which he calls his home. Since he has become a guardian he's had a lot of work to get done. Jack looked around to see if anyone was around and, noticing that he was completely alone, he whistled.

A shadow appeared in front of Jack with red eyes and black wings. "Ah Jack there you are, by the way congratulations with the role of a guardian" Said the creature.

"Heh thanks Death" Said Jack with a smile.

Then the creature reveled himself from the shadows, Death had a black hood that was covering his face only glowing red eyes were in view and he had a dark gray cape with light gray lines. He had jet black wings that were big enough to cause a shadow like effect behind him and skeleton hands in which he was carrying his scythe.

"Well, ready to do your job? There are about 10 souls in the United States and in Alaska" Said Death.

Jack chuckled and said "Yes I'm ready, sorry for keeping you waiting".

"Well, then I'll leave the rest to you" Said Death before vanishing through a wisp of shadows and Jack was alone.

Jack looked again to see if the coast was clear again so nobody can find out his secret. He and his staff started to be surrounded with a blue aurora that shined through the forest. The aurora died and Jack appeared, he opened his eyes and looked behind his back. He had pure-white wings and his staff turned into a frozen scythe that was almost transparent. He stretched his wings and begun flying with the wind´s help. Somehow, he didn't see the northern lights coming from the North Pole.

At the North Pole, North had called for a guardian meeting at his place; Sandy was the first to arrive, then Tooth and last Bunny. But he didn't see Jack and the boy was 10 minutes late for the meeting.

"Where is Jack?" North asked. He hasn't seen Jack since one week ago and he was starting to get worried.

Bunny said with a shrug, "Don't know, but Frostbite is always late." In which he received a glare from the tooth fairy.

"Has anyone seen him?" Asked North. Sandy formed with his sand a ´X´ that meant no.

"I haven't either." Said Tooth with a worry expression.

"Well, Bunny you go find Jack!" North exclaimed and Bunny shot him a look of surprise and started yelling.

"What!? Why do you always send me to fetch him?!"

"Well first you have tunnels which you always mention and second you're much faster." Said North with a logical voice and Bunny grunted. Sandy was behind Tooth chuckling silently so Bunny wouldn't notice. Then Bunny opened the Tunnel to his destination.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack was flying with his wings stretched through the wind. He had control of his wings, since he's had 300 years to learn how to use them. Death had been his other boss in these 300 years besides Mother Nature. Now he was heading to the Washington to collect the last soul.

He landed on the snow covered grass of the town, and looked through the forest to see if he can spot the soul.

He then heard crying, and turned walking to the right of the forest and he saw. Sitting on a branch, a girl no more than nine years old crying. Jack´s heart sunk into guilt, the girl had died young.

He stepped closer in which startled the little girl. She had long hair and was transparent and she was wearing a school uniform and shoes. She looked at Jack, scarred and ready to make a run for it.

"Don't worry I won't hurt you." Jack quickly said to reassure the girl.

The little girl looked shocked "You can see me?" She asked. Jack nodded and the girl continued, "Are you my guardian angel?"

Jack stared at her then said, "Yes I'm your guardian angel and I'm here to take you to heaven."

Jack raised his scythe and said "Don't worry this won't hurt believe me"

The little girl was first scarred but she nodded. Jack slashed his scythe at the little girl and cut her in half. She dispersed into white light that went to the sky to disappear to her final resting place.

Jack smiled at her. It was hard for him to do his job the pain and guilt overcame him sometimes, but this isn't the first young soul he has encountered. Lots of them, even four year old ones or one year olds, he's had to send away but over time he came to accept that this was just something he had to do to help the souls reach their final resting place.

He let out a sigh. He had already finished his job for tonight, so, instead of using his wings, he let the wind carry him to Burges.

When he arrived at Burgess he flew through his forest and landed next to his lake, his staff turned back to its original form. Jack sighed then lay on a snow bank; he was very tired and didn't want to think of anything else. When he fell to sleep he forgot something very but very important.

He forgot his wings were still visible.

* * *

Bunnymund arrived at Burgess, he was looking for Jack in all America but he figured that since Jack lived in Burgess, he'd be there. Why he didn't think that earlier was a mystery to him.

He hopped through the snowy path to Jack´s Lake. When he arrived at his Lake he saw nobody there, and was about to leave when he saw Jack on a snow bank. He walked to Jack´s side and he gasped, his eyes widening.

There lay Jack on the snow with _wings_.

" _When did Frostbite ever have wings?_ " Bunny thought with a shocked and confused face. He shook away the thought for now and went to pick Jack up. It was difficult with the wings and he almost thought he woke the other a couple times, but he was soon able to get the other in a comfortable position in order to carry him to the Pole. As he tapped his foot on the ground, he never noticed he forgot the winter spirit's staff.

When Bunnymund arrived at the chilly air of the North Pole, he shivered but Jack was comforted and he just snuggled deeper into Bunny's chest. He ran up to the door of the workshop and forced it open with a bang. He quickly headed to the Globe Room where he knew the others were.

The guardians were waiting for Bunny to come back. They were very worried for Jack since they haven't seen him in such a long time and the fact he never answered the call of the Northern Lights. Tooth was buzzing forth and back, Sandy was asleep standing and North was sitting on a chair with a worried expression. He was thinking of all the worst possibilities that could happen when his thoughts were interrupted by a large bang. They all looked over to the entrance when they saw Bunny coming in with an unconscious Jack Frost in his arms.

"Where was he?! Is he hurt?! Did-" Her questions were interrupted when Bunny hushed her.

"Sandy sprinkle some sand over Jack." Bunny whispered but Sandy was already on the job.

North got up and asked. "Bunny, what has happened? Was he hurt?"

"I don't know North, but I found him in Burgess sleeping on a snow bank. I also saw he had these." With that, Bunny nodded his head toward the feathery appendages that were attached to the younger spirits back. The guardians gasped from shock. How had they not noticed them? There was an awkward silence when it was broken by a question.

"How did this happen Bunny? Was it another spirit?" North asked.

"Like I said, I don't know. They were on him when I found him." Bunny said, shifting slightly.

"Alright. We will ask questions later for now, we take Jack to bed." North said, gesturing for the others to follow as he led the way to Jack's room.

When they got there, Bunny laid Jack on his bed and pulled the covers of the blanket over him gently being cautious of the new appendages. Bunny looked at the boy's and sighed. What happened? Had he always had these? Was this some sort of secret the boy had kept hidden from them ever since he joined them? He didn't know. Then he took notice of a certain object missing and sighed. He noticed that North and Tooth had left the room so, turning to Sandy, he spoke.

"I'm going to go back for Jack´s staff, I forgot it by his lake. Keep an eye on him, alright?" He got a nod and, giving one in return, opened a tunnel to get the staff. Sandy sat on the chair that is beside Jack´s bed. He looked at the sleeping with a worry filled glance.


	3. Chapter 3

Jack groaned as he began to wake up and that's when he felt something warm covering him. Didn't he fall asleep at the lake? He managed to crack open one eye and saw he was in his bedroom and was covered by one of his blankets. He was shocked at first then, when he felt a shift on his back, he fought to get out of bed. When he got out of the covers he found Sandy sleeping in a chair nearby and quickly moved to hide his wings behind his back. Sadly, the other was shifting and waking up at the sound of all of Jack's trashing earlier.

"Oh, hey, Sandy how's it going?" He said with a fake grin as the other looked at him.

Sandy skipped that question and made an image with his sand, wings and a question mark.

"Um…What wings?" He said stupidly still with his fake grin. Sandy raised an eyebrow in response to the other, not taking his word for minute.

* * *

A hole opened in the snowy ground of Burgess and Bunny hopped out of it. He moved through the trees and soon reached the ever frozen lake. When Bunny got there he saw the staff laying in the snowbank where he found Jack, but that wasn't all. Around the ground he could see black and white feathers scatter on the ground. He guessed that the white feathers were Jack's but whose were the black?

Shaking his head in confusion, he picked up the staff and opened up a hole in the ground. He was about to leave when he paused. Maybe the feathers could give them some sort of hint on who or what did this to Jack. An idea of what was going on.

Deciding, he picked up both a black and white feather before jumping down the hole and heading back to the Pole.

* * *

Meanwhile, North and Tooth had left to search the library for any clue to behind what was going on with their youngest member. North was pretty sure he had a book that would explain it, he just forgot where it was.

"What does the book look again?" Tooth asked while zooming shelf to shelf, looking through the piles of books.

"It is a…ah…green book, yes! With a gold border that is in a swirly pattern." North responded and Tooth nodded in response and the two continued to look through the many shelves.

Many minutes later, almost an hour later, they had had no success in finding the book.

"North are you sure that kind of book is around here?" Tooth asked, tired from flying from shelf to shelf without much of a break.

"Yes, I always make sure books are returned to library." North said before frowning. "Or at least it should be."

"Wait! You mean that it might not even be here?! North if we just wasted-" Tooth was about to threaten when she was cut off.

"Aha! Found the book!" North shouted with joy. Tooth only stared not even believing it, she had searched through all the library and he found it with ease. Nonetheless she followed North to the table where he set the book.

The tittle of the book read "About the Spirit World".

"Where do we start looking?" Tooth asked.

"Maybe, about spirit's with wings?" North suggested. He hasn't read this book for so long, finding no need for it. Now, with that thought in mind, they began to read.

* * *

Sandy raised his eyebrow at Jack who was nervously trying to get out of this. He should have figured the dream-weaver wouldn't by his excuse of not having wings; the feathery wings still quite obviously behind him. However, he needed to get out of this somehow. He couldn't hide his wings with magic seeing as he didn't have his staff to control the power. He couldn't fly away because there was no doubt that Sandy would just knock him out with dream-sand if he tried to leave through a window.

Again, he watched as Sandy signed above his head once more asking about the wings. He couldn't tell. There was a reason he and the others would keep this job a secret, for there was no telling how other spirits would react. But they were needed, for there were too many deaths that would happen in a day for Death to take care of, so they couldn't get hurt or captured. Very few outsiders knew what he and the others were, but those were the trustworthy ones.

Suddenly, a hole opened up and they turned to see Bunny jumping out of it. In his grip, he had Jack's staff.

"My staff!" Jack exclaimed, reaching towards it only for Bunny to bring it out of reach.

"Now hold up there, Snowball." Bunny said. "I know if I give this to you, you'll find a way to escape."

"No I won't, just give it to me! It's mine!" Jack jumped at the other, officially able to wrap his hand around the staff. Now Bunny was obviously much stronger than Jack but he was able to shoot a bolt of frost through the conduct and get Bunny to let go. With that, Jack quickly flew from the room, the shock of this rendering both Bunny and Sandy frozen for a moment before racing after him.

When they found him again, they found him on a balcony on one of the higher floors. He was balancing on the railing but something was different. The large wings on his back were gone.

"See, I told you I didn't have any wings." With that, he jumped off the railing and into the sky. Sandy tried to shoot off after him, but the wind kept him at bay. We Jack was gone and out of sight, Sandy flew back down to Bunny, who was groaning in frustration.

They lost him.

* * *

Jack sighed as he flew away from the Pole. When he had gotten away from the two Guardians, he quickly activated the spell that helped hide his wings. The last bit at the end was simply for fun, he simply couldn't resist taunting them.

He landed in a nearby woods in Russia when he suddenly sensed he wasn't alone anymore. There was a familiar sound of a bell in the air and a voice spoke.

"Hello, Jackie!"


	4. Chapter 4

"We found something! We found something!" North exclaimed as he and Tooth came running into the room Bunny and Sandy were in, which happened to be the room Jack had been resting in. Seeing no sign of the winter spirit, they turned to the two sulking Guardians.

"Where's Jack?" Tooth asked.

"He left." Bunny answered. "We tried to keep him here, but he got away." He shook his head before looking up at the two. "So, you two found something?"

Both North and Tooth blinked for a moment, processing the change in topic before Tooth responded. "Er…yeah. We found something about wings that might apply here."

"Come, come! Look!" North exclaimed opening the book to the marked page and began to read.

_"There are many types of spirits in this world, many with wings. There are some who need them to fly while others use them as tools. (Look in index for spirits such as these). However, there are some wings that mark a type of group of spirits, depending on the design of the wings._

_"One of these groups are known as Angels of Death or Servants of Death, as the spirits of this group follow the spirit known as Death. This group is known to hold many different spirits from many of the other groups (seasonal, holiday, etc.). This group is identified by the wings that can appear upon their backs however, it is difficult to find one for they have the ability to make the wings appear and vanish as they please. They have this ability inorder to hide their identities since some of these spirits have commented "other spirit's aren't fond of those who bring death" making them a very secretive group compared to other spiritual groups._

_"However, should one come across one of these spirits or even Death himself, one will find a way to uncover them by looking at their wings. Their wings are large, around the size of the spirit who has them, and covered in feathers (yes there are other spirits with feathery wings but these are the ones found with these specific ones). The feathers seem to range in color but the most seen are the colors: black, white, gray, and silver. On some spirits one may see brown or tan colors but these are the ones seen on all these types of spirits that have been encountered. The feathers, if ever felt, will feel both thick and light at the same time and the density may depend on the spirit._

_"As for the spirits they are a range of different spirits from other groups (As mentioned before). These spirits are manly those who have a large association with death or have some form of connection with the act itself. As for the spirits, or Angels in this case, they may have a specific job depending on what type of spirit they are or maybe even the wing color. (The lack of information is from the fact this group is so secretive about its members). It has been noticed that some spirits are nicer to others and it is believed that this group is made up of close relationships making the group friends with every Angel in it. It is also believed that these Angels never refer to one another as so even if they recognize another Angel outside of the job."_

Bunny and Sandy blinked before Bunny spoke up. "So you think that Jack is one of these, 'Angels of Death'?"

"Yes." Tooth said nodding. "As much as we didn't want to admit it, there are many clues that led us to this part. Jack is part of another spirit group-which is shown is aloud, has feathery wings, is trying to keep it a secret-"

"Frostbite keeps a lot of secrets though."

"Yes, but Bunny." North said this time. "As much as it hurt to admit, many people see winter as season of death. Even if we might not see Jack as it, this may be true."

Bunny frowned but as he looked to Sandy, he knew the other agreed with the others. With a sigh Bunny brought out the two feathers he found at the lake. "Here, these might help. I found them at the lake. I figured the white feather was Jack's but I don't know who the black feather would belong to."

"Death." Tooth said. "We read up on him, just in case, and it's said he had black feathered wings upon his back."

"That just strengthens the theory." North muttered before letting a quiet air fall over them as they struggled to take this in.

"So then, what do we do?"

* * *

"Hello Jackie!"

Jack smirked and turned towards the sound of the soft bell. There, he found a young girl, around the age of 14, hanging upside down from a tree branch. She has blonde, curly hair that, if she were upright, stops about mid neck with platinum blonde strands framing her face and her skin is pale. Her eyes are mainly green, holding strips of different shades of green within the iris, along with a dark blue ring around the iris and brown around the pupil. She had rectangular glasses with a navy frame and a light green collar around her neck with a white gold bell. Her outfit was usually a thin, long-sleeved purple and light teal horizontally striped hoodie with a black undershirt. The sleeves of the oversized shirt would be long and fall past her hands to flop around and the hem would reach a few inches above her knees. Beneath it would be black pants that were knee length and she was bare foot. This was Mary Fortune another spirit and Angel of Death.

"Hey, Mary, what are you doing here?" Jack asked as he leaned on his staff as he gazed at the spirit. Mary shrugged before jumping down and clumsily climbing to her feet.

"Ow."

"Were you stuck again?"

"No!" Mary cried. "I just didn't feel like coming down yet."

"Right." Jack laughed rolling his eyes. "Will you answer my question now?"

"Wow, you're touchy today." She replied as she came to stand in front of Jack, who was an inch taller than her. "You're usually more playful then that. It wouldn't have anything to do with the Guardians, right?"

"Is that why you're here?" Jack asked. "Did Death send you to make sure I didn't spill anything?"

"What?!" Mary gasped with mock offence. "I'm hurt Jack. You make it sound like all I do is follow orders! You should know me better than that, I like to know information." Then she shrugged. "Plus, I know you didn't. One because-"

"You're a creepy stalker?" Jack replied with a teasing grin.

"Hey! I'm not a stalker!"

"But you are creepy."

"Not as much as Death." Mary huffed. "Anywho, it's because I know you. You don't spill easily. The other is that Misty was watching you."

"Right, and which invisible friend is that again?" Jack teased.

Mary gave a pout. "She's not invisible and you know that." Then her eyes trailed over Jack's shoulder, looking at something. "And she's right there, a horse remember."

Jack turned around to see a slight figure of a horse trotting past him and over to Mary who put her hand on where the snout of the horse was. The horse was made out of a thin smoke with the occasional sparkle within it making it seem nonexistent. But then that was Mary's ability as a spirit. She could manipulate the mind and senses with this smoke; she could make you believe you saw or heard something not there. Smell invisible things. That was why she was also an Angel of Death. She would sometimes try to warn the people of their death by making them see or hear something, usually making them hear a bell. Other times she used her ability to give them comfort as they died or other things along the lines of seeing something as you die.

But of course, because of her ability, she didn't have any believers. She was even acknowledged as a saying but, Jack never found her crying over it. She always waved it off like it was no big deal.

"So Jackie," She said letting the horse vanish entirely. "There's going to be a get together in a few minutes for all the Angels, so how 'bout a race there?"

"Why didn't you say that in the first place?" Jack asked.

"Because it would be much more fun to race you there, duh! So?"

"You're on!" Just as the wind began to swirl around him Mary stopped him.

"Wait! We do this the fair way!" She said letting her wings show after there was a glow of silver light around her. Her wings had silver feathers that started darker at the top and faded to a light silver, almost looking see through, at the tips.

"Alright, but I'm still going to win." Jack said as he let his wings appear on his back.

"Meh!" Mary huffed sticking out her tongue. "That's what you think!"

"On the count of three?" He got a nod. "One…"

"Two!"

"Three!" They shouted together and took off.


	5. Chapter 5

"Whoohoo!" Jack exclaimed as he barreled through the sky. He looked next to him, prepared to tease his friend when he noticed Mary wasn't there anymore. He didn't dare slow down, knowing she's done something like this before, but he did glance around for her. She was nowhere in sight.

"You lose something Jackie?" Her voice suddenly called in front of him. She was smirking at him from over her glasses.

"Nah!" He called back. "Just making sure you didn't get lost!"

"Hey! It was two times!" Mary called back with a pout.

"Sure it was!" Jack replied. "I think you're just in denial! Besides, you forgot to count right now!"

"Wha-" Suddenly, the wind blew Mary into a different direction with a shout. Jack let out a loud laugh as she tried to right herself on her wings and attempted to catch up to him.

"NO FAIR!" She called from far behind. "YOU HAVE THE WIND ON YOUR SIDE!"

"Who ever said we had to play fair?!" Jack called back. He turned forward once more and caught sight of the place they needed to land in, a small island with many trees. Tucking his wings in, he dove down with a shout. He could hear Mary behind him, laughing at the adrenaline rushing through her, and Jack couldn't help but silently agree. Free falling was a great rush and it made his heart soar almost every time.

When the ground was a few feet away, Jack let his wings fly open and to stop his fall, just in time to watch Mary do it clumsily.

"I still wonder why you keep doing this when you know you can't catch yourself right away." Jack said as he landed next to the other punching her lightly in her shoulder.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." She huffed. "I landed that perfectly."

"Sure you did."

They began to walk through the trees until they came upon a rocky hill that had a small crevice in the corner of it. They approached it and when Jack touched his hand to the wall beside it, the veins that covered the edges of the crack moved, opening the hole wider. The two slipped inside and the crack closed once again behind them. As they walked further in the direction they needed to, a voice spoke from a corner.

"You're late." Turning in the direction, they found a Valkyrie standing there. Her dark blonde braided hair falling over her tan shoulder and her hazel eyes watching them. She wore a brown tank-top that only covered her chest but then hand straps around her bare middle. She wore dark brown pants and dark boots that met the edge of her knee. Upon her back, smoky gray wings lay, folded up.

"It was his fault!" Mary exclaimed pointing at Jack.

"Hey!"

"I don't car whose fault it was! You're both late." She huffed, the feathers on her wings bristling in her anger.

"Hey, calm down Alissa. When has Death cared people were late?" A voice spoke coming up to them. Turning they found a teen with orange hair that was spiked backwards and down his neck and his skin was a dark olive in color, letting his forest green eyes stand out. He wore a cream colored tank top beneath the fiery red trench coat he had on that flared off into fire at the bottom. His pants were an earthy brown and his feet were bare. Upon his back were a pair of white wings, not as white as Jack's, with brown tips.

"Ian!" Jack called to him, walking up to the boy who was taller than him. "How's summer going?"

"Alright." Ian replied with a smirk. "What about you? Causing trouble everywhere you go?"

"You know it."

"Excuse me!" They turned to see a fuming Alissa. "But if you don't mind, I'd like to get to the meeting!" They watched as she stomped past them all and Mary leaned over to whisper to them.

"I think she's a little angry."

"Really?" Jack asked with a confused voice. "What gives you that idea?"

"I don't know." Beside them, Ian was snickering.

"HEY!" Alissa's voice snapped. "Get moving!"

"Yes sir!" Jack called with mock salute. As the three rushed past her, they were pretty sure they caught a growl.

After a few more feet of walking through the rocky tunnel, they finally came out to a wide spacious area. There was healthy green grass at the bottom of the cannon they opened to, with rocks here and there giving plat forms. In the center, there was a large clear lake. Many would believe that the home of the Angels would be dark and dying, but it wasn't. No it was beautiful.

Across the ground stood the other Angels. There weren't many, but there were still more than many would believe. A group of five banshees stood in one area of the cave, their gray-green skin almost translucent and their silvery-green feathered wings connected to their backs.

Close to them were dark, shadowy figures with similar wings. Their bodies could be believed to be made simply of shadow with only white eyes that would shine in the darkness that was their face. These were wraths, though, some were friendlier then they sounded.

The sound of a horse caught his attention and Jack turned to see the headless horseman riding through. Upon his own back, there was a pair a translucent black wings-having decided he didn't look very threatening if anyone could see them, even if they were rather large. Besides him there was a woman with jet black hair and pale skin. She was dressed in a white kimono that contrasted to her black wings that were tipped with white. That was Yuki-Onna, a spirit Jack met at an elemental group party.

There were other spirits but before he could spot any he was familiar with, black feathers swirled around on top of a tall rock. All the Angels turned to watch as Death appeared before them, his large black wings like a shadow behind him.

"Good day my Angels." He called to them all. The all replied before he continued. "My Angel's I have called this meeting to celebrate the joining of an Angel to an outer group. I do not know how many of you have heard by now, but our fellow Angel, Jack Frost, has joined the Guardians!"

Murmurs filled the air and Jack looked down, not wanting to look at them. For the Angels of Death, they had to be careful when they would join up with another group. While it was considered a great thing to become part of other spiritual groups, Angels of Death were not the type of spirits other's really wanted in their groups. Usually, keeping their secret wasn't so bad, especially since most of the time there were at least two Angels in a separate group, like how both Ian and Jack were seasonals, with Yuki-Onna occasionally. However, this was the first time an Angel had joined such a group like the Guardians, so there were no other Angel's to support him.

"I would like to congratulate him on achieving this," Death spoke up. "And I would also like to warn him. The Guardians will no doubt watch you, so watch yourself. It would do us and yourself no good should they discover us." His own red eyes stared up at the ledge Jack stood on directly at him. When his eyes turned away from the winter spirit he addressed them all once more. After everything he had wanted to say was said and done, Death was gone and it was just the Angels. Many took this time to hang out a bit but there were others who just left.

"You're a Guardian!" Jack flinched from the whack to his head as Alissa fumed at him. "I swear do you every think!?"

"So he is a Guardian, why does it matter so much?" They turned toward the smooth accented voice and found a tall, bone thin woman standing there. Her skin was bone white with hews of gray and her eyes a baby blue. Intricate designs were painted across her face, many in the shape of flowers, and blue outlined her eyes. She wore a black dress that frayed out at the bottom and covered her shoulders in a shawl like form. The bottom had blues, yellows, and pinks across it and a golden belt was tied around her waist. Black heels were on her feet and a black sombrero upon her head, contrasting with her silver hair. Upon her back were a pair of light gray wings tipped with yellow. This was Camellia, the spirit for the Day of the Dead. "It has done no harm and he seems happy from it."

Alissa scowled at her. "Yeah, but what happens if the Guardians get nosy? What if he spills something to them?"

"Hey!" Jack protested. "I can keep secrets! I've been keeping some for almost two hundred years!"

"That and, what proof could they bring up?" Camellia asked with a smile.

"Oh, maybe they'll see or hear something?" Alissa accused, suddenly reminding Jack of the fact they had, in fact, seen his wings.

"If they do, they can't do anything without proof!"

"Did you forget that that these are some of the most popular spirits with a lot of influence?! Pretty much, anything they say can go!"

"My dear Alissa," Camellia sighed, her smile dropping. "Are you saying you would turn your back on our dear brother because he could get caught? From my many years here, I've never believed such a thing could happen. It hurts my heart to think you'll do such a thing."

Alissa's scowl fell at the older spirit's words. "I wouldn't do that, I just don't want anything to happen."

Camellia smiled. "That is just the feeling of being an older spirit to a younger one." Then she clapped her hands. "Now! I don't know about you but I feel as though we need to brighten the mood a bit! Since we are all here, why don't we take the chance to actually celebrate, hm?"

With that, a party was in full swing. Jack and Ian took their time messing with other spirits who were used to their nonsense. Camellia was leading the dancing in the center of the party while Mary spent her time laughing in a corner, occasionally messing with a few spirits here and there.

Jack was grateful for this because it took his mind off of the fact that the Guardians were already suspecting things. He could at least enjoy this moment of peace before it would all go down.


	6. Chapter 6

After a while, the Guardians decided to go after Jack and confront him personally about what they discovered. They decided to take the sleigh, Bunny reluctantly agreeing to that, and took off. They chose to search Jack's lake first only to come up empty when they asked if Bunny could find Jack's sent there. They checked Antarctica next, only to come up with the same results. They didn't know where else to look for Jack. They were passing by Australia when Bunny caught Jack's sent and it was at that moment they heard a scream accompanied by a familiar laugh.

They landed near the noises and peaked through the bushes to see a laughing Jack Frost with a flushed and fuming girl. Neither of them had wings.

"Stop laughing at me!" Mary cried at Jack.

Jack tried to stop laughing but he couldn't, it was just too funny. See, after spending time at the party Camellia threw, both Jack and Mary decided to leave. They left and, after hiding their wings, decided to head to Australia to have some fun. They were in the middle of playing a game when a large spider had crawled on Mary's leg causing her to scream and jump away like a cartoon character. Jack couldn't help but laugh at her.

"I-I can't!" Jack said between laughs. "It's too…funny! It was just a spider!"

"A GIANT spider may I point out! I mean it was huge!" Mary complained, flying in the air with her legs tucked up as if to avoid touching any of the wildlife.

Jack had tears in his eyes and he was holding his stomach with how hard he was laughing. Mary pouted, moved over to him, and slapped him in the arm, but she only made Jack laugh harder.

Jack continued to laugh his heart out when he felt a tap on his arm. Jack forced himself to calm down as he look at Mary, who was staring at something past him.

"What is it?"

"Umm…" Was his only response along with Mary lifting her hand to point in the direction. Jack turned to look behind him and was met with the sight of the Guardians standing there, watching this exchange.

"Guys?" Jack questioned as he turned to them.

"Jack…what-who is this?" North asked, gesturing to Mary.

"Oh uh…guys meet Mary Fortune. Mary this is North, Tooth, Sandy, and the Easter Kangaroo, the Guardians." Jack introduced. Bunny looked like he was about to object to Jack's comment on him being a kangaroo but he was cut off by Mary's shout.

"Oh! Cool! It's really nice to meet you all!" She said with a big smile, walking up to them.

"It's nice to meet you too!" Tooth greeted with a smile. She didn't want to let it show that none of them knew who this girl was. But it appeared to not matter because Mary's next words shocked them all.

"You have no idea who I am and what I do, do you?" She asked, her smile never slipping off her face. She ignored their stumbles for excuses and continued. "It's fine! I just won and lost a bet!"

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked turning to Mary.

"Oh its nothing." She waved her hand. "Just Ian, Camellia, and I made a bet about me meeting them. I said that I wouldn't meet them in a million years but Camellia said otherwise, so I owe her…something. I don't know we never worked it out. As for Ian, well he said they would at least know me from like my past or on a list or something, but NOPE! So I win that bet! I'm going to go get that sorted out while you deal with…whatever is going on here. Ok? Ok." She took off with a whoop but only Jack caught sight of her waving her hand and creating a small dragon like creature on the ground. He knew that it was her way of calling to her and the others if he needed them.

Jack directed his eyes away from the almost see through creature to look back at the others who were all looking embarrassed.

"So," Jack called to them. "Why did you come looking for me?"

It seemed to take them a moment to gather themselves before they focused their attention back on Jack, who noticed their eyes never even seemed to see the little dragon.

"Well, Jack, we wanted to talk about what happened earlier today." Tooth said.

"If you're talking about the wing thing I'll tell you again that I don't have any wings!" Jack huffed, getting annoyed by this conversation already.

"Then why did you run away?" Bunny asked, raising an eyebrow at the winter spirit.

"Because you were all ambushing me." Jack stated. "I didn't really appreciate that you know. Besides, you have nothing to prove that I had wings."

"I felt them myself!" Bunny growled.

"And you may just be crazy."

"Alright. Then how do you explain the black and white feathers at your lake?"

"Er…birds, obviously." Jack deadpanned.

"In the middle of winter?"

"Look, maybe they belong to some other spirit. Ok?"

"Like Death?"

"Why are you pressing this!?" Jack exclaimed, clenching his hands around his staff.

"We just want to make sure you're not in trouble or anything." Tooth quickly stepped in, cutting off whatever response Bunny was going to say. "We just want to make sure you're ok."

"Well, I'm fine." Jack snapped making the others flinch back. Jack took a calming breath before continuing. "Look I'm fine and plus, there are so many other spirits out there that could have left the feathers."

"Again, like Death!" Bunny exclaimed at the winter spirit.

"So what if Death had been there? Why does it matter? I mean, nothing happened to me." Jack explained, leaning on his staff.

"Jack this is _Death_ we're talking about here! If he was there it couldn't have been for anything good!" Bunny budded back in. Jack clenched his staff even tighter and opened his mouth to reply when he was cut off by soft roaring to his right. Instantly, Jack whipped his head to look at the small dragon. He didn't care if he looked crazy to the others, focusing on something they could not see, but he didn't care. There was something frantic in the roar and now he was only cursing Mary for not letting it speak English.

"Jack what are yo-"

"Shhh!" Jack hissed before turning back to the dragon, trying to decipher the purpose behind the freak out. Suddenly, the dragon evaporated and a cry sounded behind him before he could reply.

"JACK!" A fearful voice came from behind him. Looking up he found a fearfull Mary sitting on top of him. "Jack, Jack, JACK! Oh my gosh! Something really bad happened! I-We need you now! You have to come back with me _NOW!_ Dea-" Jack quickly put a hand on her mouth, cutting off her rant. He quickly glanced in the direction of the Guardians, who looked like they wanted to step in, before turning back to her.

"Ok, calm down. You're working yourself up and it won't do me any good if you pass out. Now take a deep breath and tell me what happened."

Mary took a breath but it didn't get rid of her worried expression. After her breath, she talked really fast. "Ok so, I went to go tell the others how about the bets and when I got there we did justthat but then we got news about something reallyreallyreally bad. Deathismiss ingandwethinksomeoneki dnappedhim! and we had to gather everybody back up! So we split up to get everybody and then I realized you would still be caught up with the Guardians and since I was the fastest they sent me to get you and-HOLY CHEESE THE GUARDIANS ARE STILL HERE!"

Mary didn't seem a little out of breath but Jack couldn't say the same for the others. They looked very confused with trying to follow her extremely fast rant that you could only learn to partly follow if you've known Mary for a few years. Thankfully, Jack was able to catch the gist of what she said and shot up, his own worry etching its way onto his face.

"We have to go now!" He knew he couldn't make his wings appear right now with the other Guardians here, he was happy enough Mary remembered not to show her wings, so he called to the wind.

Sadly, he didn't get far before golden sand wrapped around his ankle, keeping him in place.

"And where do you think you're going Frostbite?" Bunny asked with a raised eyebrow.

"None of your business Kangaroo! Sandy let go!" The dream-weaver shook his head in response.

"Please, please, please let him go! You don't understand but you _need_ to let him go!" Mary cried as she tugged on the dream-sand but it didn't budge.

"Then explain to us what big deal is." North asked. "Maybe, we can help?"

"No, we're good!" Mary said giving a force smile. "Right Jack."

"Seriously! We have to go and you four can't be involved, ok?" They didn't move. Jack sighed. "Alright." With that ice began to move along the sand making Sandy let it go. Jack thought he was free only for him to be completely surrounded by sand. He tried to freeze it but only more sand would be added.

Jack could tell they were planning to use Sandy to knock him out if he didn't calm down, so he sent Mary a look of help.

Mary huffed and closed her eyes before opening them and focusing on North. She moved her hands to point at him and suddenly North was swatting at air, shouting about bugs. This caught the others' attention but before Jack could try to break free, Sandy was moving to knock him out. Mary squeaked and directed her powers on all of them. All but Sandy joined the group of screaming Guardians and it was then Jack figure that he could probably tell the difference between reality and illusions.

Jack was about to shout at Mary to make them more realistic, like she did with the dragon, when Sandy shot sand at both of them. Jack's last sight before he was out was Mary being caught by Sandy.


	7. Chapter 7

Jack groaned as he fought his way past the darkness that covered his vision. He forced his eyes open and took in the details around him, the style of the room obviously informing him he was at the Pole. He sat up, putting a hand to his head and continued to look around the room. It was obviously one of the guest rooms and Jack had been left here alone, only…he couldn't see his staff anywhere.

Instantly, fear shot through his body as he tried to find his conduct and way of connecting with the wind. His mind ran in circles as he tried to remember what had happened and why he didn't have his staff when he remembered. The other's finding him, Mary telling him about Death's abduction, the other's stopping him from escaping.

He was soon rushing to the door, about to grab its handle when it shot open. Jack stumbled back before tensing up to hold his ground as he watched the Guardians enter the room. At the sight of them, he could feel anger building up beneath his skin.

"Jack! You're fin-" North began only to have Jack snap and cut him off.

"Where is my staff!?" Jack shouted at them, clenching his hands at his hands.

"It is safe, do not worry." North replied, hoping his smile would calm Jack down. It didn't.

"Why did you take it from me in the first place?!" Jack bellowed, his powers beginning to act up in his anger, unchecked without his staff to balance it out evenly.

"Because we knew if we tried to confront you with it, you'd make a run for it." Bunny replied as he crossed his arms and glared back at Jack.

"You have no idea what you're doing." Jack ground out. "What you're interfering with-"

"Then _explain_ it to us."

" _I can't!_ "

"And why not?!" Bunny blew up.

"Because I simply can't! It's not for you to know, or something you need to know!"

"Jack, please we just want to help you." Tooth pled with him. "You're one of us, a friend, and we care for you."

Jack fell silent for a few minutes at the talk about sticking by your friends. He took a deep breath before he asked in a quiet voice. "What happened to Mary?" He had to know. If she was ok, which she had to be because the Guardians shouldn't've hurt her, then she could get help from the others to help rescue him.

"She's fine. Currently relaxing in a different room." Bunny replied.

"You kidnapped her!?"

"We could risk her helping you escape, not until we got answers."

Jack's rage was building again. Why couldn't they just let this go!? Why did they have to look into this specific thing!? He let his gaze drift over each of them, trying to figure out a way out of this.

* * *

Mary blinked awake only to find darkness all around her. She could hear sounds coming from outside of…wherever she was. She remembered the Guardians coming for Jack and all the craziness that followed.

 _'Wow._ ' She thought, looking around the dark room. _'Never would have taken the Guardians as kidnappers. My childhood is now scarred_.'

She knew she needed to figure out a way to get the others to come help her and Jack out and began to think some things through. She attempted to create a bird to send out the others but it wouldn't form. She furrowed her eyebrows and thought hard, trying to make it as real as possible but just when she could feel it in her hands and see the smoke making its form, it exploded.

"What the heck!?" She cried. Whatever spell was placed on the room was keeping her from using her powers to escape.

"Ok, ok," She breathed trying to calm herself down. "Look, this doesn't mean you can't leave. Ok Mary? You just need a little part out of this room and you're good! You're free from whatever those stupid Guardians did! Ok, now I just need to get out of here."

She felt along the wall, looking for anything that might be a way out while whispering curses to the Guardians. They somehow found a spell to keep her magic grounded to reality-stupid reality-making her unable to manipulate the senses, no matter how real she made something. Mary blamed the Sandman for that, since he had been able to see past the illusion she made for them.

Mary continued to feel along the wall when her hand finally found a door. She grabbed the handle of it and turned it, only to find it was locked. She huffed before kneeling down to try and peak through the bottom of it. It was then she could see the light of what seemed like a hallway outside. She smirked and moved her hand to wiggle her fingers beneath it. It was a lot of work but when she felt her finger tips touch cool air, she grinned and focused her power toward her finger tips.

She could feel it swirl and decided to first send a message out to the others, just in case she could do no more than this. She formed a bird once more with the message and let it fly before trying to unlock the door.

* * *

Jack stood his ground as he glared at the four before him. He had tried to sneak his way this way and that only to fail each time. He tried to freeze his way out of the room, but he didn't want to risk losing control without his staff. He knew they wouldn't let him go without answers, but why couldn't they wait until _after_ he and the other angels took care of whatever was happening.

"This would be much easier if you simply tell us about what is going on." Bunny sighed, at the determined boy.

"For the hundredth time, I. Can't. Tell. You!" Jack repeated.

"And what would happened if you told us? Would you get hurt? Killed?"

"I don't know! What I do know is that whenever someone finds out, nothing good ever happens!" Jack growled before realizing he let something, though very small, slip.

"So some people know? Is this something with a spirit group?" Jack said nothing, keeping his lips closed as he continued to hold his ground.

Bunny opened his mouth to continue questioning Jack when a Yeti came barreling in, shouting something only North understood.

"What!? Well fight them off!" North shouted at him.

"Wait, what is it?" Tooth asked.

"Intruders." North replied. "Three of them." Jack's eyes widened at the word intruders, instantly figuring out who they were.

"Do we know who they are?" Tooth asked.

"We might but they are apparently hiding in shadows to keep hidden. The yetis only saw them sneak in but then they were gone." North explained.

Bunny shot a look to Jack. "Friends of yours?"

"…" Bunny scoffed at Jack's silence.

"What do we do about him?" The Guardian of Hope asked as he gestured to Jack. "I mean, they are obviously here for him."

"Keep him hidden." North replied.

"You can't just keep me locked up!" Jack exploded. "You can't control me like this!"

"No Jack, we just want to help you, please understand." Tooth pled with the angry boy, but her soothing words did nothing to ease the rage inside of Jack.

"This is not helping! Helping me would be letting me _go_!"

"Ja-" Tooth was cut off by a boom from outside and the sound of wings flying toward them. They all moved out of the way as a burst of fire shot toward the yeti and the guardians from the doorway, Jack quickly moving out of the way of the shot. The others ducked and dodged the shot and when they looked up, they found Jack standing beside four figures: Mary, Ian, Camellia, and Alissa.

"Oh thank the moon you guys are here." Jack sighed.

Alissa shook her head, her sword in her hand pointed at the Guardians as she replied. "There is no time for this. What happened is getting worse as we stand here."

"Did you guys happen to find my staff?" Jack asked and Ian tossed it to him.

"We need to go now."

"Not so fast, mates." Bunny declared pulling out his boomerangs and reminding the five of the other spirits in the room. "You're not going anywhere until we have answers."

"Ah, Bunnymund!" Camellia said with a smile. "And how are you all doing?"

"We're doing fine, however we would like some answers." Bunny repeated.

"Oh? And just what would you like answered?"

"How about what the heck is going on?!"

"That is classified." Alissa hissed.

"Wait, an extra pair of hands is what we may need in this situation." Camellia said, her smile dropping from her face and her bright blue eyes pierced the Guardians. "While I know it is forbidden to tell, perhaps, with what is going on, we could have an exception."

"Then only they can know." Alissa replied reluctantly. "And only if they swear not to tell another soul."

"I think that can work." Camellia said before looking at the others. "Do you four agree?"

"Yes." They replied or, in Sandy's case, nodded.

With a deep breath she turned to her fellow Angels and gave them all a nod.

"And to think I wasted all that time keeping them from knowing only for them to find out in the end." Jack huffed but they could see a smile on his face.

"That is just how your luck works though, right?" Ian smirked at him.

"Oh shut up."

A cough caught their attention. "Please do not banter, we have not the time for this." Camellia said before letting a pink light surround her. Alissa followed with a silver light and Ian with an orange light. Jack and Mary both let their own lights surround them and when each were gone, the Guardians watched as wings were suddenly upon each of their backs.

Jack rubbed the back of his neck at their stares and nervously broke the silence that came over the room.

"Surprise."


	8. Chapter 8

The Guardians were having a difficult time trying to comprehend the fact that their newest Guardians was an Angel of Death. After Jack and the others had revealed their secrets, they all headed down to the usual Guardian meeting room so they could discuss what was going on.

"We can't just sit around any right now!" Alissa screamed at the others. "Because of them," she pointed at the Guardians. "More and more Angels have been attacked and _killed_!"

"Killed!?" Jack exclaimed with wide eyes. "I thought only Death had been kidnapped."

"That's what we thought too." Alissa huffed. "But while you were off with the Guardians we found many of the others wounded or dead. We have no idea who is doing it and how it's being done in such a short amount of time."

This worried Jack and the others a lot. Immortals weren't easy to kill off, let alone spirits that were physically associated with death itself. Why this was happening and who was doing it left all the spirits worried.

"Do you have any idea who's doing it?" Tooth spoke up making the others turn to her. The Guardians had been quietly listening to the exchange but Tooth was worried for Jack with this news.

Camellia shook her head. "No, the only thing we can get from this is that it is someone who had something against us. Otherwise we have no ideas."

"Do you know of anyone who could have enough power and hate to start killing spirits, especially this quickly?" Tooth pressed.

"We know of one but-"

"He's long gone." Jack spoke up with a look, knowing where this was going. "With no chance of coming back."

"Besides, the wounds only involved what were stab wounds and burns, that's not something _he_ would do, and _he_ wouldn't kill this quickly even if he could have come back." Ian spoke up.

"Um…how many…have you found that-that were…" Mary trailed off, unable to voice the fact of her friends being dead.

"Too many." Camellia whispered, her voice and eyes conveying the sorrows she felt at the idea of the dead Angels. Mary let out a soft whine in reply.

"Are you sure there are no others that you can think of that would be after you?" North asked.

"Not like this, no. I mean, there are spirits who oppose death but there is a truce to allow us to do our job. Besides, many of the spirits who attacked our group in the past know not to attack us, let alone kill us." Alissa explained. They all stood in silence for a while, a dark feeling coming over each of them. Suddenly the wind whistled and Jack jerked his head up to the windows.

He opened the windows and let the wind's voice flow through his ears. Only he could understand fully of what it was saying, Ian able to understand some of what the wind said because he was also a season spirit but didn't have the connection like Jack had.

Jack suddenly gasped and spread his wings, prepared to take flight and follow the wind.

"What is it?!" Mary cried at him.

"Someone else was attacked." Jack gasped. "We need to get to her quickly!"

There was no more hesitation as each of the Angels spread their own wings and took off out the window following Jack.

The Guardians shouted after them as they each left one by one, but they were only able to get Mary's attention since she was the last out of the room.

"Wait!" Tooth called. "We want to help! Please!"

Mary hesitated and looked back to the other Angels before turning back to the Guardians. She bit her lip uncertainly before waving her hand and letting a small bird form. "Just follow that." And with that she was out the window.

Tooth and Sandy didn't wait a second longer before taking off out the window after her while Bunny and North rushed to the sleigh. Bunny didn't complain, figuring that it would be easier to follow the bird if it could easily tell where it was going. North whipped the reins and the two were off.

The Angel's raced through the air as they headed toward Mt. Fuji. They took little notice in the surrounding areas, their gazes solely focused on Jack as he led them to their fellow Angel. They landed upon the snow dusted rocks near the top of the mountain and began to run forward, only to be met with a heart breaking sight.

Yuki-onna was laying limp upon the ground. Crimson painted her white robe and darkened her already dark hair and wings. They all came to kneel around her and Camellia took her gently into her arms like a mother would a child.

"Yuki!" Ian cried as he took one of her hands in his own. Jack was kneeling beside him, his eyes shining with horror. Alissa stood nearby, her hands clenched to her side and eyes clenched shut with her teeth gritting together as she tried to hold back her anger. Mary landed on her knees behind Camellia, staring with tears shinning in her eyes.

"Oh, Yuki." Camellia cooed with a soft voice, tears evident upon her words.

"Who did this!?" Ian cried, clenching her hand tightly. Yuki-onna's dull pale eyes blinked slowly before she let words pass her lips.

"Sprite…of…life." She gasped out, blood shinning on her teeth where it had pooled in her mouth.

"The name," Ian continued. "Do you know the name?!"

Yuki-onna just closed her eyes and took a shuttering breath. Camellia let a comforting smile grace her lips as she ran a hand through the other's dark hair. Mary choked back tears and Jack just continued to stare in shock.

"Jack!" Tooth's voice called to them as she neared them. She could hear North coming in behind her and she could see Sandy to her left but she continued to go forward. She was about to call out to him again when her voice left at the sight of the spirit in Camellia's arms and landed silently a little ways away. She heard the others land beside her and North and Bunny climb out of the sleigh.

They stood in silence before North decided to walk forward and speak up. "I can treat her at the Pole, if you'll let me."

All but Alissa looked toward him and nodded their heads. Camellia gently lifted Yuki-onna up and moved to the sleigh. She sat down within it with Ian and Mary flanking her. Bunny opened up a hole in the ground and decided to meet them there to help treat her wounds. When no one else joined North upon the sleigh, North took off leaving the four behind.

Jack approached Alissa, but when he went to put his hand on her shoulder, she shrugged it off and took off in a different direction with a growl. Jack didn't bother going after her, only staring off after her slowly disappearing form.

"Jack?" Tooth spoke up. He didn't reply. The Tooth Fairy shared a glance with Sandy before the two approached their distraught member.

She placed a hand upon his shoulder but Jack still did not look at her, even as she spoke. "We will find who's doing this. We'll help you in every way we can."

"Will you?" Jack asked. "Can you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you really going to help us put a stop to whoever is hunting down the Angels?" He asked, turning to look at her. "Will you protect those who bring death?"

"Of course we will. This isn't right." Jack gave a nod of acceptance in response. Tooth wasn't finished.

"And Jack," He looked at her again. "We don't care that you're an Angel of Death. You're still a Guardian." He blinked before looking at Sandy as she continued. "And Guardians don't leave each other, no matter what."

Sandy gave a smile and a thumbs up in response to what she said. Jack blinked again before giving a smile.

"Thank you."

He spread his wings and the three took off to the pole.


	9. Chapter 9

By the time Jack, Tooth, and Sandy arrived back at the Pole Yuki-onna was already in the medical ward being taken care of by Bunny while North attempted to comfort the other three outside of it. Ian was pacing back and forth, muttering angry words beneath his breath and Mary was walking in a circle, biting her thumb. Camellia was the only one who was relatively calm as she was sitting in a seat with a worried expression engraved upon her face.

They all looked up at the three when they entered.

"Where's Alissa?" Camellia asked.

"She took off before I could stop her." Jack sighed.

"I'll find her!" Mary shouted before anyone could react and took off out the window nearby.

"Shouldn't somebody go after her?" Tooth asked worriedly.

"Honestly," Camellia sighed. "She'll most likely be alright without one of us following her."

"And why is that? Is the person after all of you as well?" North asked.

"Yes, but not many spirits pay attention to Mary and when they do its more of just a "hi". So she should be safe for a while." Camellia answered. "That and she was so worried when you didn't join the ride to the Pole." She gave Jack a smile who gave a smile back.

"Sorry, I just needed a moment." He replied giving a glance over at Sandy and Tooth. Despite what they said, he still couldn't get rid of his worries.

"It's alright."

The medical ward door opened and everyone turned to see Bunny and two yetis exit. They all turned to the three creatures that exited with questions on their tongues.

"Is she alright?!" They all seemed to say at the same time.

"She'll survive but it will take her a while to get on her feet." Bunny replied as he gave a nod of thanks to the two yetis.

"May we go in and see her?" Camellia asked and got a nod in return.

"She's asleep but you can." Instantly, she and Ian were racing past Bunny and into the medical room. Jack stayed behind and sat down in Camellia's now abandoned seat. His wings pressed close to his back and he buried his face in his hands.

"Jack?" He heard them come closer and raised his head to look at them.

"Are you doing ok?" North asked.

"I'm fine, this is just a lot that's happened so suddenly." He replied running a hand through his hair.

"Frostbite," Bunny spoke up. "I can't help but wonder how you were able to stay hidden for so long. I mean, someone had to figure it out."

Jack sighed figuring it wouldn't matter if more secrets came to light. "Usually all Angel's names are classified, leaving everyone to think it is simply Death or some other myth doing the work of what they were believed to do. Those who have connections with death had ways of making it seem they never _directly_ associated with Death. As for the rest of us, we were able to be secret enough. If word did spread, we were usually given another name so we wouldn't be suspected. We didn't tell anyone so we could each stay safe, we never trusted any other group with our secret because we knew there would not be a kind reaction."

He sighed again. "However, somehow someone found out about each one of us. We can't say who, all we found out was that it's a sprite and is associated with life."

"We'll find out who it is, don't worry!" North exclaimed trying to comfort their youngest member. It was so unnatural to see him without a smile or smirk.

Jack gave North a smile but it seemed a little forced. "Thanks North, I appreciate it." He let out a chuckle. "I think I'll take a nap. All this seriousness is really getting to me." In reality, he just wanted to get away from the awkward air between him and the other Guardians. "If the others need me, tell them I'm in my room." With that he left, leaving the Guardians to stand there in confusion.

* * *

Alissa huffed as she sped through the air. She had not real destination, only to get away from all that was going on. As much as she acted like she hated everyone around her, it didn't mean she didn't care for them secretly. Now, all she wanted to do was find the person who was doing all of this.

"AH!" She yelled as she was suddenly struck from behind. She started to plummet toward the unforgiving ground on the ground, and, just when it seemed she would crash, she forced her wings to fight against the sting in her back and she was able to soften her fall a little as she fell to the ground.

She grunted as her body skidded along the ground before coming to a stop. She sat up with a groan and whipped the dirt off her body, turning to look at her attacker. Before her stood a figure dressed in a cloak of a bright off-white. Behind its back was two pink gossamer like wings, but it was what was held in its hand that caught Alissa's attention. The blade was curved and jagged, its color a chilling shade of icy silver, stained with a crimson color-her blood.

"Death tainted scum." The figure muttered, its voice soft and female.

"So you're the one who's been going around killing all of us." Alissa growled, standing up and ignoring the stinging wound on her back.

"You don't deserve to be immortals!" The woman shouted and charged forward with the blade. Alissa easily dodged the weapon and produced her own weapon and gripped it, prepared to fight.

The woman charged again but was clearly not skilled in combat like Alissa was. Her move was sloppy and easily deflected and it wasn't long before Alissa had her to the ground with her own weapon pointed at her throat.

"Show your face you evil murderer." Alissa hissed only to be pushed back by a suddenly blast of light.

"I'm not the murderer, you and your group are." The woman hissed as she stood up once more and struck Alissa in the shoulder with the blade making her cry out. The cut stung with a feeling of ice inside of the cut.

"What magic is that!?" Alissa growled, clutching her shoulder.

"Nothing that you need to know." The woman growled back. She was about to charge again when she was tackled to the ground. Alissa's eyes widened at the sight of Mary on top of the female, rubbing her head.

"Ow, not a nice landing." Mary mumbled but remained seated on the other.

"Mary?! What are you doing here!?" Alissa shouted at her.

"I was worried about you! You didn't come back and I got worried because you could have been hurt! And you ARE hurt!" Mary was busy babbling worriedly to Alissa that she didn't notice the form beneath her start to move to stab her.

"Mary!" Alissa cried when she saw it and was about to tackle her friend out of the way when Mary suddenly had her hands on the figure's neck, sharp nails pointed to stab.

"Rude!" Mary growled, her eyes darkening as she pressed her nails into the figures neck and Alissa stood nearby shocked yet also somewhat proud of the normally non-violent girl.

"Now, where is Death and the others?" Mary asked leaning in closer.

"You don't scare me." The figure hissed.

"She should," Alissa spoke up. "'Cause she can be pretty creepy at times. But if you don't tell her, I can always persuade you." She brought her sword up to point it at the woman.

"Kill me, you never see Death again."

"Who said we were going to kill you?" Mary hummed. The woman let out a growl before setting off another bright light and swinging the blade up towards Mary. Both the brightness of the light and the attack forced Mary off of the woman and she took off into the air, knowing she had been defeated.

When the light was gone, Alissa caught the quickly disappearing figure and went to take off after her when Mary held her back.

"What are you doing?! We have to get her?!" Alissa growled at her fellow Angel, attempting to shake off Mary's clinging grip.

"You're hurt! You shouldn't go after her! You need to go back to the Pole and get fixed and if you want, I'll follow after her!" At that word she summoned up a small bird to follow their attacker.

"You idiot! You're hurt too!" Mary blinked and looked down seeing the deep, inch long cut on the left side of her chest. She reached up to touch it and hissed when she did before pulling her hand back and looking at the blood on it.

"Huh, I guess I am." Then she shook her head. "But you're still more injured then me. So just leave the sneaky part to me, please?"

Alissa was about to snap at Mary again when she caught her worried gaze. Her green eyes shinned with worry for the other and it made Alissa sigh.

"Look, I get that you're worried but I'm not going to let you go on your own." Alissa said and then gave a scoff. "Yeah, definitely not with your luck, you'd end up getting caught and would somehow get out of there."

"Exactly. I'll be fine."

"No. I'm going with you." Alissa said firmly staring Mary down. Mary looked like she was going to object but held back.

"Alright, but don't get any more injured than you are." Mary huffed. Alissa just smirked and the two took to the sky.

* * *

Jack sighed as he stared out the window at the vast land of white that trailed out there. He felt conflicted inside. Despite what the Guardians say, he had no idea how they'd react if they ever found out what part he plays as an Angel of Death. Even now, the thought of their disappointed gazes hurt his heart and he wanted to simply get this all over with now.

He just knew that nothing good would come if the Guardians got any deeper into this group than they were, especially in his case, but he also knew that with his luck, they would end up as deep as they could get.

Jack let out another sigh as he leaned his head on the glass and tapped it to let frost decorate it. He let his mind remained in turmoil even as he let his body fall asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

A shout filled the dark cave as the white cloaked woman landed and threw the blade in a random direction. Her fierce movement caused the hood to fall from her head and revealed light pink skin framed by wavy light green hair. Her pale eyes were narrowed in anger as she raged. Than a deep chuckle sounded from her left and she turned to glare at the cloaked man in the cage.

"Be quiet!" She growled at him but it only made him chuckle even more.

"You failed at killing one of my Angels, didn't you Aileen." Death chuckled, his red eyes gleaming from beneath the shadow of his hood.

"As if you have anything to say." The woman hissed. "You're trapped in a cage and it won't be long before I figure out how to kill you."

Death just grinned at her making her snarl in return. With a huff, she turned around and grabbed the blade she had flung from across the cave and began moving deeper inside of it. As she got deeper, the air grew colder and colder, just as cold as it was outside where this place was hidden. She shivered a little but didn't back off as she continued to travel deeper until she finally entered a room filled with ice. It was small in size but looking up it could go for miles. The room glowed an icy-blue all around and in the very center there was a small pool of water. This pool was of the melted ice she had been using to enchant the blade with the magic stored in the liquid.

She approached the pool and knelt beside it. She did not know who had lived here long ago but whoever did had granted her a great gift. The ice, she found, gave off a dark power that she found if she mixed it with a weapon, it could kill a spirit. She knew that it was bad to meddle with this, but she needed to use whoever's dark magic this was to take care of those retched servants of Death. Sadly, she found that without the producer of the ice, it seemed that the magic was not powerful enough to kill Death himself. Oh the day she could meet the creator of this ice would be a great day, should she not get killed herself.

She placed the blade in the pool and began chanting, hoping to make the magic stronger in it.

Meanwhile, Death let his gaze drift up towards the high rocks where he could sense two of his Angels hiding.

"You should not be here." He muttered, knowing it was loud enough that they could hear him. He almost chuckled at his Angels when he heard a quiet 'eep' and a shush that followed. "Do what you need to, but get out of here as soon as you can." Death ordered before falling silent.

Up in the shadows of the cave, Alissa and Mary were hiding up there. Mary hadn't expected Death to call them out like he had and Alissa only rolled her eyes at her friend's behavior. Gripping the other's wrist, the two slowly and quietly flew down to the cage that held Death. Death seemed to focus on the blood that stained their clothes and skin before watching them as they studied the cage.

"Do not bother." Death spoke up. "The metal is enchanted with the magic she has found. It will do you no good to try and break it yourselves."

Mary hummed for a second before reaching forward and wrapped her hand around one of the bars, only to instantly yank it back with a hiss. Her hand was cut on the cold and sharp metal, causing even more blood to stain her skin.

"Do you know what magic this is?" Alissa asked their leader as she continued to study the cage.

"Yes," Death admitted. "I'm just surprised someone was able to harness it. I had believed that only the source, the spirit whose magic this was would be able to wield it. I was wrong."

"Was?"

"The wielder is long gone and should hopefully never return." Death said, but there was something in his voice that said there was something deeper to that statement.

Alissa gave the other a look before looking in the direction Mary had been, only to see she wasn't there. A spike of fear shot through her but she didn't let it show.

"Mary?" She quietly hissed. A soft shush came from her right and she turned to see Mary standing near the passage that led deeper into the cave. She motioned for the Valkyrie to join her and waved her hand, obviously putting something on the two of them. They began to walk deeper into the cold cave until they finally found the sprite. They watched as she performed whatever spell she was casting before she lifted the blade out of the water. The blade seemed to gleam an icy-silver, lighter than before.

They two looked at each other before silently leaving the area. When they came back to Death, he was giving them a look, silently telling them to get out of there.

"We'll be back." Mary said before the two spread their wings and left the cave. As they flew away, they each shivered as the cold air of the snowy Tundra. Now they just needed to make it to the other side of the world. Mary put her hand to her chest, feeling the crusted blood there before turning to look at Alissa. Her own wounds showed themselves clearly in the day light and it was obvious to Mary that flying strained the wound on her back.

She opened her mouth to say something to the other girl, but held back. She know that Alissa would just refuse any help offered, being the prideful person she was. So, Mary just focused on getting to the North Pole as quickly as possible and without any delays.

* * *

The Guardians sat a few feet away from Jack, Camellia, and Ian, who had taken up residence on the couch near the window. They each talked quietly to each other and occasionally glanced out the window, eyes filled with worry. But that was understandable. It had been a day and a half since Alissa had vanished and Mary flew off after her and since then there had been no sign of either girl. It was obvious they wanted to go out and look for them, but they were hesitant to do so, especially with Yuki-onna still out. Jack had asked the wind to find the two but he hasn't gotten any word of them yet.

Yuki-onna had, in fact, woken up but she could supply no more information than what she had given already. It upset the others but they didn't hold it against her. Though, Ian would deny that there were suddenly fist like holes in one of the walls because he lost it.

As for the Guardians, they had done what they could for the group while still upholding their jobs. Both Sandy and Tooth were upset that they too found no sign of the two girls, and the four did what they could to comfort and help the group. They looked up any spirits they knew but they still had no idea what spirit, or sprite as Yuki-onna had supplied, was doing all of this.

Suddenly, the window blew open and Jack and Ian both looked up at the wind's arrival. It swirled and whistled loudly before two figures flew in behind it-Mary and Alissa.

Everyone was shocked at the sight of blood on the two and instantly raced to them as they fell to the floor.

"What happened!?" Camellia cried as she knelt beside the two.

"I was attacked by the sprite." Alissa growled out.

"I helped keep her from dying!" Mary chirped in her two cents.

Jack couldn't help but snort at Mary's remark as she said it just so carelessly like it had really been nothing. At his snort, the others turned to him and glared, except for Mary that is.

"What?" He asked innocently. "It's kinda funny."

"No it isn't." Alissa snapped. "And she did not save me, she only go caught up in the battle."

"And saved you." Mary chirped again.

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did!"

"No, you didn't."

"Did to!"

"Oh would you two stop it!" Bunny growled at the two making them shut their mouths. "Now is not the time for you two to be bickering!"

Everyone just stared in shock before Jack started laughing once again.

"What is it now?!" Bunny growled at the winter spirit.

"Haha-i-its just tha-that…hah!...usually we-" Jack couldn't voice anything more as he continued to laugh. However it seemed like the other Guardians understood and tried to hold back their own laughs.

"What?!" Bunny glowered at the others.

"It is just that you and Jack usually fight at bad times." North got out. "It is funny you stop others from doing same thing."

Bunny blinked for a few seconds before grumbling and crossing his arms with a humph.

Meanwhile the Angel's just look on in confusion. They had no idea what this talk was about but those that knew Bunny could figure it out to an extent because they also knew Jack. So once the fact clicked in their minds, Camellia and Ian began laughing as well. Alissa just rolled her eyes sighed while Mary felt completely left out.

With a huff, she got up and began searching the area for help. When she came across a yeti, she asked if he could get them some supplies to help their wounds. She really didn't know if the yeti understood or not, but she had no doubt that her wound on her chest got the idea across. She watched the yeti rush off before turning back to the room.

When she reentered she got questioning gazes.

"And where were you?" Alissa asked.

"Getting stuff to help us." She replied. "You know, since they were all busy laughing their heads off."

"Oh right!" Camellia exclaimed. "I am so sorry you two. Now we need to get you patched up and rested an-"

"Wait we can't rest!" Alissa shouted just as the yetis came back in with the medical supplies.

"Yeah! We promised Death we would be back for him!" Mary's words made everyone freeze.

"You…saw Death?" Camellia breathed her accent thick with emotion.

"In the…er…cloak." Mary replied before yelping as the yetis got to work patching up her wound.

"We know where he is, where the sprite that is doing all of this is." Alissa said as she scowled at the yetis. "Plus, we know her name too. Aileen, if I remember correctly." She looked to Mary in confrontation but she just shrugged.

"Don't look at me I'm terrible at names. Looks on the other hand I can say. Not that that is important." Mary laughed nervously.

"Do you know what type of weapon she used?" Ian asked.

"Oh yeah it was a blade with a silver color and a cold feeling to it." Mary replied. "From what we saw, she was using some weird magic on the things she had."

"What type of magic?" Jack questioned but there was something else in his voice.

"It was odd." Alissa said. "It had a dark feeling around it and it was from the ice she had at her place. Somehow, that ice could kill spirits." Her words made Jack give a quiet gasp. He knew what type of ice she was talking about but the thought that its remains had been brought up without his involvement was horrifying.

"Do you know anything about that kind of ice Jack?" Tooth asked.

Jack bit his lip. He could always just admit the truth right here but the thought of the Guardians and even the other Angel's learning more about this held him back. "Not really." He lied.

They each seemed skeptical of his answer but let it slide.

"I don't know about the rest of you but I'm ready to make that sprite pay." Ian growled.

"We will go in a few moments." North said. "Let us prepare for battle and them you two will lead the way." He nodded over at Mary and Alissa who gave their own nods back.

It wasn't long before each spirit was ready and they were piling into North's sleigh once more. With a shout from North they took off into the sky. Mary and Alissa sat up near the front by North and were quick to guide him toward the South Pole.

"Antarctica!" Bunny exclaimed. "Of all the places to be for a sprite of _life_ she had to choose Antarctica!"

"You're complaining?!" Ian growled. "How do you think I feel? Also, how have you never seen this place, Frosty!? This is your domain!" He got a shrug from the winter spirit in reply.

From there they just continued south until the sleigh was told to land. Once they landed, they found the cave opening from directions from Mary and Alissa.

"Careful." Alissa said. "It's a far drop." They each looked over the edge and found that it was a far jump to the ground below. So, they Angels, Tooth, and Sandy all flew down while North and Bunny hitched a ride with Sandy.

As soon as they landed, Mary and Alissa rushed off to the area they knew Death was but they didn't get far before a bright flash of light kept them from moving any further.

"Well, now, what do we have here?"


	11. Chapter 11

_"Well, now, what do we have here?"_

They all turned towards the voice, finding the pink skinned sprite smirking at them. Her pale eyes shinned with excitement at the sight of the group of spirits.

"It seems that the earth has decided to grant me with your presences," She gestured to Mary and Alissa. "As well as a few others." She grinned in the direction of everyone else.

"So you're the one behind the killings." Camellia spoke calmly with an even gaze.

"What gave it away?"

Ian growled and began to march forward in anger but he felt a hand on his arm holding him back. He looked back at the one who decided to keep him from charging forward only to hesitate. Camellia stood and her blue eyes met his own and the worry in them was enough to keep him from attacking.

"Why are you doing this?" North demanded as he gripped his swords at his sides and glared up at the sprite.

"I'm ridding the world of the evil that had plagued them with death. They hurt all those they come in contact with! Surely the Guardians, who defend against such things, would aid me in riding the world of this filth." Her eyes shinned with insanity as she grinned down at the five Guardians.

It was quiet for a few moments, not even breathing could be heard. The Angels all looked to North and the other Guardians with worry on their faces. They knew that the sprite brought up a wise fact and now it was time to see how the Guardians would reply. Even Jack looked worried. He may have been a Guardian, but he was first an Angel of Death. His mind was already made up, but the others? He didn't know and that fear he's held inside of him since they found out churned inside of him.

"Your right." Everyone's eyes snapped to Bunny as he spoke, but he only gazed up at the crazed sprite, whose smile had widened at his words. "That is what we do. We defend the innocent and fight off the evil. As far as I'm concerned both sides are obviously shown here."

"So you'll fight with me?" Aileen asked.

"Bunny-" Jack growled at him only for Dunny to hold up a paw.

"I didn't finish. I said both sides are shown clearly, as in, the victims here are clearly the Angel's and the villain here is you!" Bunny smirked as he took out his boomerangs. "Besides letting you kill them would be letting you kill one of the Guardians, which is a wrong in my book." He glance over to Jack, who blinked before smiling and gave a nod. In return Bunny gave his own.

Aileen growled up from where she stood. "Fine if you're going to defend them, I'll just knock you out of the way."

Suddenly in here hands was not the single blade she had before but two long swords. Just looking at the way the weapons shinned in light meant they had the same abilities as the other weapon had. With a cry she jumped down and formed a stance, prepared to kill the Angels that stood before her.

Each of the other's prepared their own abilities and weapons as well: Mary with her claws, Camellia with an axe, Ian with a chain scythe, Jack with his staff, and Alissa with a sword. The four older Guardians already had their weapons out and read.

They stood there, each side glaring at the other before a cry broke the air and Aileen rushed toward Alissa. Instantly, her blade met the other girls while the others rushed to aid her. Golden sand moved to wrap around the sprites wrist but she jumped away to safety. She whipped an arm at them and a bright light took all their eyes, each person crying out from the intensity of it; even Sandy showed a look of discomfort.

Finding her opening, Aileen rushed forward prepared to strike Camellia down when she saw something move in the corner of her eye to behind her. Just as she felt two clawed hands rake their way down her back, a whip came forward to wrap around her wrists. With a growl, she intensified the light before thrusting forward, striking a body with her enchanted swords. The whips untangled around her hands just as she kicked back making the spirit behind her yelp.

When they light faded they were all shaking their heads to see once more and blinking their eyes. However, all that stopped when they saw Sandy's pained face and his hand clutching his chest.

"It's amazing what a spell can so huh?" Aileen smirked. "Can even hurt the strongest immortals."

They all stared at her in shock before Ian ran forward, swinging his scythe and letting it fly alongside a ball of fire he shot at her. She cried out as the scythe cut her when she tried to avoid the ball of fire and at the same time North was racing forward, swords posed to strike. She tried to avoid the master sword's man but an attack from Camellia from behind forced her to roll away.

With a growl, she gathered up power and forced a beam of light at them all. It knocked many of them back and forced them roughly into the rocky walls of the cavern. Tooth, who had avoided the beam by flying up, charged at the sprite and was about to strike her when an enchanted sword came up and cut its way across her chest. Tooth cried out and fell, rolling a few feet away and didn't get back up.

She heard a loud cry and found the other Guardians charging at her with rage. She had little time to react as boomerangs came flying at her alongside whips and ice. North thrust his swords with vicious rage at her abdomen. Cuts and wounds blossomed across her skin as she swung her swords at the group. She sneered as she suddenly threw both her swords in one hand and launched a dagger at her attackers.

It struck.

Sandy was forced to the ground as the dagger impaled his stomach and a chilled feeling spread from it. He, too, did not get back up but could only watch from the ground in pain. The Angel's seemed to come back with vengeance as well, attacking alongside the Guardians, each one filled with their own rage.

Aileen could tell she needed to do something fast. They were ganging up on her too quickly. With a cry, she spun around and let a large blast of light force them each away from her. Cracks and grunts filled the room as everyone was once again flung against a wall. As everyone lay against the ground panting, each trying to catch their breaths, Ian took the chance to attack again. His scythe flew forward, prepared to hit her again, only for her to dodge it and grab the chain. As he was yanked forward, Ian let the metal heat up, trying to burn her off of him, but it did no use as the seasonal was cut with one of the swords before he was thrown at Bunny, who had been trying to get up, and the Guardian cried from the heated metal striking his skin.

"You can't beat me!" Aileen cried, her blood covered form watching them all with wild eyes. Jack glared at her from where he was, he knew something he could do, but the thing was _could_ he get himself to do it?

Out of the corner of his eye, he watch Mary raise her shaking hands in the air from where she was gasping for breath. Her head was dripping blood from a wound on her head somewhere and her eyes were wavering as she tried to focus on Aileen. Jack watched as smoke seemed to gather around her hands before it was gone from his sight and for Aileen to suddenly thrust at open air

Jack knew she was making an opening for them. He looked to everyone else, only finding Camellia, North, Bunny, and Alissa able to attack with their battered forms. Jack gave them each a nod before they all got up and circled the currently hallucinating sprite.

From over where she was sitting, Mary tried to keep Aileen from seeing the others while at the same time make her see fake versions of them. It was difficult, especially with the headache she had as well as the ringing in her ears. She saw the remaining few stand up, ready to fight and she could only hope this went well.

Aileen swung at 'Camellia' as she came running at her, only to be held up by North. She didn't know how they were up so quickly! A strike across her back made her cry out only to see no one there, and growled to turn and find which one had attacked her.

Meanwhile, Jack and the others were each taking carefully placed attacks on the sprite, while at the same time avoiding her wild strikes. As much as they wanted to take her out right then and there, they knew one wrong move could ruin it completely for Mary's illusion and they'd be back to square one. Plus, Jack wanted to avoid doing _that_ as easily as possible.

They each attacked as many as times they could, each getting a few good hits in there that would make Aileen's attacks falter, but their luck could only go for so long. Mary suddenly gasped and her concentration broke as the pain in her head seemed to intensify for a moment. No one was prepared for it and they certainly weren't ready from Aileen to spin around and swing her blades to cut at each of their chests. They all cried out at the cold feeling of the blades but the cuts were that deep so they stood their ground. She seemed to be under the spell again but it was then she decided to once again fling them all away with her blast of light.

They could not avoid it, not after the unsuspecting attack that made each of them falter for a few seconds, and they were once again forced back, the force being much more powerful making each of them cry out in pain.

Over in her corner, Mary gasped as the force made her head crack against the wall once more, making her loose her hold on Aileen. As Aileen looked around herself again, she grinned at each of their broken forms. Suddenly, she caught Mary out of the corner of her eye raising her hands sluggishly at Aileen. Aileen growled as she began to head in her direction even if she had the others attacking her. She understood now what this Angel was up to and wouldn't have it anymore.

Mary's eyes widened as Aileen continued to walk towards her despite what she was making her see. She scrambled to get the other to turn around or something, but it was useless. Aileen reached her and forced her up against the wall by wrapping her hand around her neck.

"I don't appreciate a rotten demon like you influencing my mind." She hissed at the blonde Angel. And before anyone could do anything, one of the enchanted swords was protruding out of her back. Mary's eyes widened at the action, a choked noise escaping her lips as it happened.

" _NO!_ " A loud, anguished filled cry pierced the air as the sword was twisted, getting another gasp from the Angel, pulled sharply out of Mary. Aileen just let go of the other girl and let her fall to the ground with a thump.

"That's another one down." Aileen grinned as she kicked Mary's body getting a choked groan.

"You _bitch_!" A loud cry came from behind her as she narrowly avoided being cut in half by a fuming Alissa, her hazel eyes burning with flames that could rival those of hell.

"Oh, did you care about her?" Aileen mocked before charging forward to meet Alissa's thrust.

The others could only stare in shock at the sight before them. They had all been shocked and horrified when they watched Aileen stab Mary, but the reaction from Alissa left them frozen. They knew she cared about the other Angel's, but they had always believed she was annoyed by Mary the most. They would have never expected this reaction from her, and it left them all speechless. They stared in shock as their friend attacked the other with rage embedded in every movement and swing of her sword.

For a few seconds, it almost seemed as if Alissa's anger was too much for the sprite, but she found an opening to exploit and was quick to use it to win against Alissa's anger influenced attacks.

Just as Alissa went in for another swing, Aileen kicked her in the stomach and toward the fallen body of Mary. Alissa smacked into the wall and fell next to the wounded, barely conscious girl. It was only one look at Aileen that Alissa dropped her sword and gathered Mary in her arms, cradling her and protecting her from the sprites attacks.

Just as Aileen was about to swing her swords into their flesh, an axe and a staff kept it from moving any further toward the two. Jack and Camellia glared at the sprite, forcing her back and away from the two curled on the ground.

Aileen gave a growl before running at the two, swinging her swords out at them, only for the two Angel's to avoid the attack. Camellia rushed at the other and swung her axe continuously at the girl, hoping to cut her in some way. Jack shot ice at her from a distance, getting his shots on target with his expert aim, but it didn't hinder their enemy at all. Aileen got a cut across Camellia's chest once again, as well as along her arm and legs, but the spirit was not stopped. Aileen cried out as the axe sliced into her shoulder, making her drop one of her swords.

Fed up with their attacks, she forced a beam of light to push them back, making the two cry out. She got one last swing at Camellia before the woman lay on the ground.

Jack forced himself to stand, and Aileen laughed at him. "You think you can win? Foolish, demon. You cannot defeat me, not while I hold the power of cold death in my hands. You should just give up now!"

Jack looked away from her and at the people he had grown close with. Alissa was clutching a limp Mary in her arms, the still girl gazing up into Alissa's eyes with her own dull ones as a smile graced her bleeding lips. Next was North who as holding Tooth in a similar way, only both he and Tooth had their weak gazes focused on the sprite in the center of the room. Sandy was watching weakly from where he was gasping on the floor near an unconscious Bunny and Ian. And finally Camellia was gazing at Jack from her place on the ground. Her gaze looked to Jack and gave him the courage to do what he needed to do.

Jack turned his gaze back to Aileen, who was smiling triumphantly at him.

"That's where you're wrong." Jack spoke to her. "You think you have all the power here, but that is where you are mistaken." His wings began to open up behind him spread to form a shadow behind him. Then, ice began to spread up them, making them form a spike like form behind him, as well as the rest of him body.

"What are you going on about!?" Aileen growled at him. "I hold the power behind the deaths of spirits now and you can't do anything about it."

Jack gave her a twisted grin full of sharp teeth. "Wrong again." The ice worked its way into his skin and his hair darkened to be that of dark gray-blue in color, like dark ice. "You think you hold the power, but you are too stupid to realize that you do not hold power over ice, let alone _this_ ice." His voice was cold now with cracking ice inside it and his staff began to form that of a scythe, not his normal scythe but one that sent shivers down all who looked at it. "Only I control this ice." His eyes were so white and swirled with the intensity of a storm.

Aileen looked on in fear. "W-Who are you?!"

Jack grinned as he took a step towards her. "I am the laughter in the blizzard, the bite of ice." He moved closer and she tried to back away but was held back by the wall that suddenly appeared behind her. "You can call me, Jokul Frosti. And this ice you have…is _mine_!" He laughed insanely and the cold that was within the weapon suddenly nipped furiously at her hands, making her drop the swords just in time to feel a scythe against her neck.

"I laugh at how you think you thought you could use my own ice against me!" He giggled. "It's funny, really. But you must understand, this is my ice. Only _I_ can use it to kill those stupid spirits! And while I appreciate your…use of it, you tried to kill me!" He chuckled. "Now, how should I return the favor? Freeze your limbs one by one, cut pretty pictures into your skin before I kill you?"

Aileen just stared at him as he prattled on about the ways he could kill her when he stopped.

"No." He whispered and suddenly blue showed through his eyes. "This is not my judgement to give." She could hear gasps around her from all those she wounded. To all of them, the ice that had invaded their wounds from her weapons retreated making them feel, relatively better. Jack's form began to change back as he thrust her into the direction of another being.

"It's his." Aileen only had enough time to look up into the furious eyes of Death before she screamed.


	12. Chapter 12

Jack groaned as he woke up. After the battle with Aileen, Death had quickly cast his judgement upon the sprite and everyone had been taken to the Pole to get fixed up. Jack helped out, being one of the least injured and soon everyone had been taken care of. Jack had thought he was going to be questioned about what had gone on during that time, but so far no one had uttered a word about what he had become in the cave. And it had all been two almost three weeks ago and since then, there have been no questions and most of the others had been back to work.

What does he mean by most? Well, it hadn't taken long for Sandy to get back on his feet despite his stab wound and was happily delivering dreams once more. Bunny, who had only a few cuts but a very bad concussion, was relaxing in his Warren and using his own remedies to fix himself up. North had decided to stay by Tooth's side as she healed herself, now back up and running but still having to take it easy with her wound. Jack was just happy they were all ok.

As for the Angel's, the same couldn't be said for them. Jack had been joined by Camellia, Ian, and Yuki-onna to go to the ceremony they were holding for all the Angel's that had passed away. There was only a handful of them left. Ian and Camellia's wounds had healed up well enough, especially since Ian was a seasonal/elemental like Jack and had the help of his element to heal up.

As for Alissa and Mary? Well, let's just say it wasn't good. Mary's wound had been pretty bad, and add to that was would be a concussion. For the past two weeks, the blonde Angel had been asleep and Alissa hasn't left her side. It was sad to see.

Jack crawled out of his bad and headed down to the hospital wing to check on the two. He's been doing that since they had all been stitched up. He walked down to find Alissa sitting next to Mary's bed and holding her hand.

"Hey." Jack whispered to her.

Alissa didn't even look at him. "Hey."

"How you holding up?" He asked as walked up to stand next to her. She gave him a glare and he looked away. "Right, sorry, stupid question."

She sighed. "No…it's not stupid, you're worried." She looked back at Mary's still form. "I just want her to wake up."

"Well," Jack started, trying to lighten the mood. "She's not one to stay still for long. Besides, she always said she couldn't die, remember? Compared herself to a cat, saying no matter how many times she go curious and most likely died, she came back because she was satisfied."

Alissa gave a thin smile. "Yeah, I remember."

"We even changed the words to make it her instead of a cat." Jack laughed. "Remember instead of 'curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back' we would say, 'curiosity killed the Mary but satisfaction brought her back.'"

Alissa gave her own laugh at it.

"I'm going to go get something to eat, I'll bring you something back." He didn't wait for her reply as he left the room. As he walked through the Pole, he came to one of the lounges near the kitchen that he found North and Tooth in. He gave them a smile as he passed, and they each gave one in return. Jack walked into the kitchen and sighed. Today was going to be the first Guardian meeting after everything that had happened, and he didn't know what to expect. He was a little nervous but other than that, he just had to wait and see what would happen.

He brought Alissa food, which she took with a quiet 'thanks' and then he left to go to the meeting room.

He found Sandy and Bunny arriving just as he entered and he waved. "Hey guys."

Sandy gave a smile and a nod while Bunny grunted in return. They each took a seat and North began.

"So, how had everyone been doing?" He asked, letting his blue eyes travel over each of them. Sandy gave a thumbs up in his own way of saying he was fine.

"I'm alright." Bunny said. "Been resting for the past few days while working on my googies. Otherwise nothing new and I've been doing fine."

"I've pretty much been in the same boat as Bunny." Tooth chuckled. They all then looked over at Jack who sighed.

"Honestly, I'm doing fine." He said with a smile. "Just really, really, really tired. After everything, not only do I have my seasonal duties but as an Angel everything is trying to settle. Death is dealing with the other groups to explain the deaths of so many spirits leaving the rest of us to deal with the jobs."

The Guardians all flinched at the mention of what he and the other Angel's did. It hadn't been long for them to find out, especially with how they were worrying over him and everyone else's injuries. When he and the other Angels were called away for a job, the Guardians followed and had watched as he took the child's soul. They had all been shocked at what had been done and it had taken a while for them to accept the fact that Jack had to do this and even when they did they still didn't want to think that a Guardian had to do such things.

"Anything else?" Bunny pushed raising an eyebrow at Jack. "You don't feel angry or-"

"Stop." Jack said holding up his hand as he cut the other off. "If you're going to ask about what had happened back there then don't try and sugar-coat it. Just come straight out, ok?"

The Guardians all looked at each other before turning to their youngest and Tooth opened her mouth to speak. "Alright, then Jack, what was that back there? Why did you change and why into…him?"

They all knew who Jokul Frosti was, it was difficult to find a spirit who didn't. But the fact was that the winter spirit had long since vanished before Jack even came to be, so the fact that Jack just happened to turn into that particular spirit at that particular time was something to question.

"I-I had found out…that I was connected to the winter spirit before me after about 200 years." Jack began. "Something had snapped in me when I started as an Angel of Death and Jokul's…personality you could say broke out. Death helped me regain control and learn to control that part of me. After that, I never let him back out, I didn't want to risk hurting anyone. But…I knew that to at least subdue her, I would have to let him out."

"Is there a reason why you're connected with…him."

"Not that we can think of." It was silent fir a few minutes before Bunny spoke.

"You just keep getting weirder and weirder, Frostbite." There was a look of annoyance on his face but Jack could see mirth sparkling in his eyes.

Jack smirked. "You just wish you were as cool as me!"

"What, always be a walking snowman? Thanks but I'll pass." Bunny scoffed before he was hit in the face with a snowball. Bunny whipped the snow off his face before lunging at Jack who simply laughed and flew off. Tooth called after them to be careful while North and Sandy just laughed.

Jack may have some odd parts to his spirit responsibilities but that didn't mean the Guardians would leave him; not now and not ever. From off to the side, Alissa watched the Guardians spend time together, and she couldn't help but smile for Jack. At least he had four others who wouldn't leave his side.


End file.
